Chapter Thirty-Nine
In which we learn the dour Russian truth: when things are horrible, they’re about to get worse.
Iris…
Melina does not do "comforting." However, she does know where to go when I need it.
We pull up in front of Rose's - not mine anymore - apartment building. She's waiting in the lobby, bursting through the doors when Av stops, her bodyguard Leonid close behind.
"Hey, sweetie." She climbs into the back seat with me. "You look like you just got hit in the face with a shovel."
"Good. Flattering." Embarrassingly, my tears start up again.
"Would you like us to drive around for a bit?" Melina inquires. When I gratefully nod, she puts up the glass divider and leaves us alone.
"You know the charges Andrey got dismissed?" I keep smoothing my hands over my sundress.
"Yeah, attempted murder?" She shakes her head angrily. "What sick fuck tried to frame you with that? I can't even get you to smash a spider instead of taking it outside."
"Andrey is that sick fuck." I look at the window. I don't want to see her face right now.
"Wha- I don't- Andrey did that to you?" Rose nearly screams it and I flinch. "Why?" she demands, taking my hand. "Why would he do that to you?"
I look out the window as Av turns into Wilson Green. It's a tiny park and quiet, now that the sun is setting. It's usually filled with mothers and their kids, screaming joyfully while they swing and slide down the tunnels. The cars make the turn into a stand of trees, lining each side of the road.
It'll be nice to look at something pretty while I feel my pathetic little illusion of happiness cracking around me. "He needed a wife," I smile sardonically. "Apparently, I fit his requirements. He was in a hurry, he needed that nomination locked down."
Her lips are moving like she's trying to form a sentence and she's having trouble putting all the words in the right order. "So, he forced you," she says finally. "Because I don't believe that Roman and Violet would've allowed this marriage to happen if there wasn't one hell of a cover story."
"I told them it was fine. I made a deal with Andrey. I couldn't back out."
"What was the deal?" Rose demands.
There's no way I can tell her. She gets her freedom and she gets it without any guilt.
"It's not important," I say. There are two women strolling past the park entrance, holding hands and walking their dog.
One says something and the other laughs, kissing her on the cheek. It looks so uncomplicated and nice.
"Iris –"
"I'm not going to tell you Rose, but it's okay.
The point is, I thought Andrey got me out of something insane.
That the D.A. was trying to pin something on me because we are Morozov adjacent.
He made it all go away." I wave my fingers.
"Then, we went to a friend of his, Judge Tamara Martinez.
She married us in her judge's chambers. He bought me a dress. "
A chuckle escapes me, it sounds rusty. "And a bouquet. So, that was nice. I came home today. I was going to tell him about the baby, and that I loved him. That I wanted this child and I hoped he did too. I had it all planned."
"And that's when you found out," she correctly surmises. "What happened?"
"Andrey was talking to an NYPD detective who, I guess, fixes things for the family.
He was double checking to make sure that nothing had popped up for me because someone was trying to hack into the police records.
Trying to find dirt on me, I guess. They were talking about the charges Andrey had added to my arrest. Then, the detective actually thanked him for his new summer house. "
Rose links our fingers together. "I am so fucking sorry. I was even beginning to like that soulless son of a bitch."
"He came out of his study and found me in the hallway.
" I chuckle again. It doesn't sound any better.
"He kept asking why would he ever tell me?
This is even after I told him I could've forgiven him if he had been honest about it at some point, if he'd told me.
He was genuinely puzzled, like, why would he have bothered?
He said that he knew I was happy, so why would he bring that up. "
"He's a fucking coward," she says between clenched teeth. "That's why he didn't tell you."
"He's right, though." Tears are starting to build behind my eyes, but I'm not crying for this bastard.
"I was happy. You know the sex is amazing.
And he was so sweet to me. You've seen the flower bouquet that's always on the entry room table?
The roses and irises? He buys those so that part of you would always be there with me. "
Now, her eyes fill with the tears that I can't shed. "That is really beautiful. I don't understand how this man can be so horrible and so kind at the same time."
"Because he's a sociopath." I smile bitterly. "He knew how to maintain me so that I was happy."
It feels like the backseat is too small, it’s stuffy. I rap on the divider. Melina lowers it, looking concerned.
"Can we get out and go for a walk?" I ask. "There are four of you, actually, five bodyguards. Didn't Leonid, Rose's guy come out and get in the chase vehicle?" She nods. "So, you know, five of you, two of us, doing nothing remarkable."
Melina nods and presses her earpiece, issuing instructions in a rapid, low tone and then we get out and walk. Av stays in the car, driving alongside us. Melina and Rose's bodyguard are walking in front of us, my other two guards covering the back.
Rose keeps hold of my hand and she swings it a bit.
"Remember when we used to come here with Dad when we were little?
" Her smile is so sad. "He'd take us every spring when the cherry blossoms bloomed.
We would walk around, and he'd tell us to breathe in deep, then we would all sit on a bench until a breeze went by and we were baptized in cherry blossom petals. "
"I'm so grateful for Dad, he gave us a wonderful childhood.
At least we know what it meant to have a loving father.
I'd hoped that Andrey would be a good father, but…
" My throat hurts so much from trying to swallow down my sobs.
"But I don't really know him at all, do I?
You know the worst part? The fact that he didn't think I was worthy of his honesty.
That after doing this sleazy fucking thing, he didn't even consider that I had a right to know. How can I trust him?"
"How the hell would I know?" she says despondently. "Please do remember that I was engaged to that little.... What did you call him?"
"A choad," I remind her.
"Exactly! A choad like Jeremy. It's not like my taste in men is any better. Maybe we should just live together. We'll be like the cool old ladies we see in Mikey's Coffee Corner. Like, Lois and Marlene, remember? They used to live in our old apartment house?"
I believe that she would do it, my Rose, she is that fiercely loyal. She is part of my heart and I'm part of hers. But I did not make that deal with the Morozovs only to have it go up in smoke now. She gets to date anyone she wants. She, at least, gets to marry who she loves.
It happens in seconds.
They must have used silencers on their guns, because we don't hear a thing until Melina grunts. Her eyes widen as she collapses and I grab her.
"Melina! Oh, shit-"
There's blood coming out of her mouth, but I hear it. "Run."
The other three bodyguards drop bonelessly to the grass and Av, my Redwood, is shot through the window, the velocity of the bullet knocks him into the passenger seat.
Two cars pull up and they're shoving us toward the second one. I'm kicking and screaming, trying to get to Rose. One of the men behind me grabs my hair and slams my forehead against the window. It's agony, like he'd cracked my head open like a grapefruit and everything goes away.